The president of the European Parliament told David Cameron last night that his renegotiation deal would be ripped up by MEPs if EU leaders agreed to allow Britain to curb migrant benefits.

In an extraordinary intervention, German socialist Martin Schulz said the Parliament was prepared to ‘fight’ the Prime Minister’s plans.

At the start of a crunch summit in Brussels, Mr Schulz reminded member states that MEPs had the power of veto anything that ‘discriminated’ between EU citizens. In an aggressive address, he also extolled the virtues of ever closer union and ruled out treaty change, saying it would open a ‘Pandora’s box’.

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, left, and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker

David Cameron appeared to be deep in talks with Mr Juncker at a round table meeting in Brussels yesterday

And he suggested that Britain and the rest of the EU would ‘be left to drift into the insignificant backwaters of the world political scene’ if voters decided to leave.

His words will fuel warnings by Eurosceptics that any deal struck by Mr Cameron will simply by watered down by the European Parliament following a referendum.

On his way into the summit, Belgian prime minister Charles Michel gloated about how Mr Cameron had already been forced to water down his demands. He said: ‘Our common will is to find a deal. We cannot allow for an endless saga, and in the end the British people will have to make a choice.

‘It is a decision and an opportunity that the UK stays in the EU but without jeopardising our values. We were hard on Cameron in the last months, there is still a lot of work but there was a lot of compromise on Cameron’s side, on the ever closer union or the veto right for example, and these efforts really allowed to make progress on the text.’

Angela Merkel said she wanted to do ‘everything’ possible to make sure Britain can remain part of the EU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: ‘There are still things to be resolved but overall I’m heading into the discussion with the attitude that we gladly want to do everything to create the conditions so Britain can remain a part of the European Union. From the German point of view that is important, but of course it will be up to the citizens of Britain to decide in the end.’

Polish prime minister Beata Syzdlo said: ‘We want a deal, but not at all costs.’

EU leaders are expected this morning to agree plans to restrict in-work benefits, such as tax credits, to new arrivals in Britain, and to cut child benefit payments to workers whose children remain in their home countries. But for the changes to come into force, they will need to be put into EU law by the European Parliament in the months after the referendum.

We Europeans have to stick together more than ever. If we part ways, labouring under the fond illusion that, now of all times, the finest hour of the nation state has arrived, we should make no mistake about the consequences

Martin Schulz

Mr Schulz said he wanted to set out clearly his objections to what was being offered ‘to avoid misunderstandings later on when legislation will need to be debated and adopted in the European Parliament.’ On the issue of the migrant benefit curbs he said the ‘solutions cannot come at the price of discriminating against EU citizens’.

He said the key reform, a plan for an ’emergency brake’ to restrict payments of in-work benefits to migrants in Britain, ‘would mean that two workers, both EU nationals, paying the same taxes, doing the same work, would for a certain time not be paid the same’.

‘Allow me to say this very clearly, the European Parliament will fight against discrimination between EU citizens,’ he said.

Mr Schulz warned that ‘no one stood to gain’ from Mr Cameron’s demand to recognise that the euro is not the only currency of the EU.

He said: ‘The treaties are very clear: the currency of the European Union is the euro. The UK is guaranteed an opt-out from the common currency. Where could there be any need for further clarification? It’s crystal clear. Opening up this chapter without an unequivocally good cause risks introducing ambiguities and could be detrimental.

‘We Europeans have to stick together more than ever. If we part ways, labouring under the fond illusion that, now of all times, the finest hour of the nation state has arrived, we should make no mistake about the consequences.’

MP Damian Green: EU deal will ‘strengthen Britain’s positions’.

Mr Schulz said the Parliament was prepared to ‘fight’ the Prime Minister’s plans. Pictured together this week

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said the ‘simian’ European Parliament was likely to pass the deal but then ‘un-pass it’ next year. He told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I don’t know of any MEPs or Eurocrats in private who think that this is a fundamental change. All of the sound and fury, all of the negotiations, have come down to amending one directive – which we could have done at any time without needing any renegotiation.

‘Privately, the Eurocrats were whooping and high-fiving and turning cartwheels because so little has been asked for.’

Mr Hannan was asked about anonymous claims that MEPs could be like ‘monkeys with guns’ when they start looking at the deal. He said: ‘They certainly can be simian, occasionally, in their behaviour.

‘I think that they will pass this deal, because they will be told to by their party leaders, but they can then un-pass it the following year because it isn’t a constitutional change, it is just one amendment.’

Mr Schulz was left red-faced as he arrived for the summit in Brussels yesterday after he became trapped in the back of his car.

After his car pulled up at the entrance to the European Council building aides attempted to let him out but were unable to open the doors for a several seconds.

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